Back
For best output, select "Paper Size" as "A4" and "Margin" as "0" or "None".
To save or print to PDF, please select Print Destination > Save as PDF, enable Background Graphics under "More Settings", then click "Save".
During the congress, E-Posters will be accessible to all participants on the congress website 24/7, as well as in the E-poster stations in the congress center.
Preparing your E-Poster
Please review the E-Poster format requirements carefully when preparing your E-Poster. Should your E-Poster not meet the mentioned requirements, it may not be displayed as described above.
E-Poster Submission Deadline
Please prepare and upload your E-Poster no later than March 14, 2026 11.59PM CET. After this date, you will no longer be able to prepare and upload your E-poster and it will not be displayed and accessible on the congress website.
Please follow the instructions below to input your abstract title.
Abstract titles should be brief and reflect the content of the abstract.
An important mechanism of cardiovascular disease in patients with chronic kidney disease is related to vascular calcifications, characterized by the deposition of calcium in arterial walls. An important role is played by chronic inflammation, especially in patients undergoing hemodialysis. The role of inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α, IL-6) occurs through different pathways, one of them being the upregulation of osteogenic markers such as bone morphogenic protein-2 (BMP-2).
We studied 58 maintenance HD patients (mean age 60.4 ± 11.7 years, 55% male). Pre-dialysis serum BMP-2, IL-6, TNF-α, IL-1β, C-reactive protein (CRP), markers of chronic kidney disease- mineral bone disease (CKD-MBD), such as serum calcium, serum phosphorus, iPTH and FGF23, were measured. Standard echocardiography assessed mitral valve calcifications, aortic valve calcifications, left ventricular mass (LVM), left ventricular end-diastolic diameter (LVEDD), and right ventricular diameter (RVD). Spearman correlations and multivariate regression explored associations between cytokines and echocardiographic findings.
In our patients we found that mean values for BMP-2 were 642.4 +/- 346.1pg/ml, for IL-6 11.8+/- 20.2 pg/mL, for TNF-α 10.4 +/- 3.2 pg/mL, and for IL-1β was 45.7+/-4.7 pg/ml. We found a statistically significant correlation between inflammation markers IL-6 and TNF-α (R=0.31, p=0.01). Serum BMP-2 levels showed a strong statistically significant correlation with IL-6 (R=0.68, p<0.0001), and also a weak correlation with TNF-α (R=0.26, p=0.05). No correlation of BMP-2 has been found with markers of CKD-MBD. Regarding ecocardiography, we found correlations with inflammation. IL-6 strongly correlated with LVM (R = 0.63, p < 0.001), RVD (R = 0.53, p < 0.001), while IL-1β correlated with LVEDD (ρ = 0.410; p = 0.004). Regarding BMP-2, we found higher values in patients with aortic valve calcifications (681.02+/- 380.78 vs. 565.26+/-255.93 pg/ml, p=0.2), and with mitral valve calcifications (659.45 +/- 369.60 vs. 582.87 +/- 251.12 pg/ml, p=0.5), however not statistically significant.
There is a strong relationship between BMP-2 and inflammation, expressed especially by IL-6, and also between inflammation and cardiac changes, however the direct relationship between BMP-2 and valvular calcifications could not be proven. This finding may indicate that while BMP-2 participates in early inflammatory and osteogenic signaling, its circulating levels do not necessarily reflect the local tissue processes responsible for calcification.
